#narutoscreencap

「 NARUTO | CHUNIN EXAM CATCH-UP 」

« Why would you give me your scroll? » Gaara asked, and rightfully so. Yukiko proceeded to explain what led her to the conclusion she was out of the game.

In this catch-up cession of the exam there was one subtle change of rules in the Forest of Death challenge: Anko did NOT say they had to get to the tower with the two scrolls in their possession as a team.  If Team 18 had been incredibly efficient so far in this exam, they finally crumbled when Tiago decided to continue on his own. He was well aware he was the most skilled of the three and the other two were holding him back. And that was it for Kaito who was already on the verge of a panic attack. He had given-up and decided to stay hidden in a bush until the end of the exam. Yukiko had discreetly taken the Heaven scroll from Tiago, but that wasn’t enough to raise Kaito’s spirit. So Yukiko just wondered off trying to find the entrance again but her poor sense of directions got her lost! But she too had given up. She grew-up believing that Tiago was the strong one, always had been, always will be. So much so she didn’t even question this belief before. And Gaara’s question « When did you forsake yourself? » called her out on it. 

What Yukiko doesn’t know is that earlier that day Tiago had a talk with Satoru-sensei who told him he was relying too much on her. Cause if he was the one providing physical protection Yukiko had always been the emotional support, keeping the pieces of his mind together. And this made him want to prove him wrong by succeeding on his own. 

Gaara refused to take Yukiko’s Heaven scroll and in his cold way invited her to keep fighting.

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 NARUTO | CHUNIN EXAM CATCH-UP 」

The scene takes place during the catch-up cession of the chunin exam a few months after Gaara’s fight with Naruto. For Yukiko, being younger, it was her first chunin exam and Satoru shouldn’t have submitted Team 18 they were not experienced enough and he knew it. The team fell apart and Yukiko found herself face to face with Gaara. She felt he was dangerous but decided to face him the way she knew how to: by being friendly.

Yukiko her Heaven scroll she took from Tiago when he abandoned his teammates. Gaara stared at her in disbelief, like frozen into place! She assumed the staring was due to her albinism, as she was used to it, and tried to make a joke to lighten the mood. But the atmosphere was still incredibly tense. 

Thorns vines were growing all around them, circling them. It’s not like she was a real threat to Gaara, whatever her plan was. But he couldn’t let his guard down, so he coldly asked why would he take this scroll. She answered those questions very sincerely, spontaneously. 

There was something upsetting and unusual about her yet he couldn’t bring himself to destroy her. It had been a while someone dared come that close to him. And it had been forever someone gave him a genuine smile. But will he accept Heaven and let her get away alive?

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